Fired Up
by Daydreaming Faerie
Summary: Marcurio joins the Dragonborn for the first time on a quest in an ancient Dwemer ruin. Dragonborn is tense throughout the entire thing, and Marcurio wants to calm them down. Fluff ensues, in the end.
1. Chapter 1

I had decided to go to Markarth, since I received a letter from Calcelmo, asking if he could have a Dwemer arrow from a pack that I recently bought. I thought I should go, but I first went to Riften to seek a new follower.

•••

I walked into an empty Bee and the Bard, seeing only the bartender, and a man in orange robes inside. I walked up to the man, recognizing him from my last visit here.

"I've heard you're a follower, Marcurio, if there's a payment. "

"That is correct."

"Good. How much?"

"500."

I handed him a fat pouch of gold. He looked to make sure it wasn't fake, and put it in his bag.

"Lead the way."

Immediately, we left Riften, and made our way to Markarth on horseback.

•••

"If you can kill the spider, you may have entrance to the excavation site, and the museum."

"That spider is as good as dead!" I proclaimed excitedly. Calcelmo chuckled, handed me the key, and sent me away.

We went to the door of the site, and entered. Immediately, you could tell the difference of temperature in here.

"I guess the reason for the warmth in here is because of the steam from Dwemer pipes." I nodded. We soon entered a corridor.

"Watch out for Dwemer traps, they can be sneaky. They'll be false steps, or tripwires."

"I'm well aware of that." I replied through gritted teeth, remembering previous experiences of being burned by Dwemer traps.

After a few turns in the excavation site, I fought three spiders. I was a little confused, because these didn't seem to be it. I continued along the path, until Marcurio and I reached a large, open room covered in web. I was about to go up the stairs, when I saw something long and thin out of my peripheral vision. Before I could even look up, Marcurio quickly pulled on my arm, sending me backwards, landing on him, while something heavy landed right in front of us.

"What the-" I began to shout angrily, but Marcurio was already killing the beast.

The spider began to fling poisoned web at us, and I scrambled to get up. I shouted at it, and the spider went up in flames, screeching in pain. I took out my ebony bow, and began to shoot at it, backing away. It quickly died much faster than I expected, since this time I have help. I sheathed my weapon.

"Thanks for the save.." I said, sheepishly.

"Don't mention it." He smirked. I glared, but to no avail since I was wearing my Nightingale Hood. The warmth in the cave began to bother me, so I took it off, revealing my (h/l) (h/c) hair. Marcurio stared, awed, but soon shook it off. He was about to say something, but I had already began my sentence.

"Hey look, I found a note near this dead body!"

"What does it say?"

"Apparently this guy was with some researchers, and the dead man was complaining about the researchers always stopping to examine stuff, and they had two suspicious men on the team as well."

"Anything else?"

I shook my head, getting up. "Just him saying that a man named Staubs had assured Alethis that those shady men are trustworthy."

"Who?"

"I'm not sure who Staubs is, but Alethis is the name of the man right here. Err, dead body.."

I was silent for a moment, thinking. Then I looked over at Marcurio.

"We should see if any of them are still alive!"

"All right, let's go." I put my hood back on.

And with that, we went deeper into Nchuand-Zel.

•••

After we killed a few Falmer, we found another dead body, and their diary. I went over to the tree that had been there, and sat on the ledge. As I read, I saw Marcurio from the corner of my eye, investigating the scene. I went back to reading, and not too soon, do I feel extreme heat as I hear an explosion, along with a grunt. I screamed, taking out my dagger, getting into a fighting stance. But I only saw Marcurio on the floor, slowly getting up. I sighed, and went over to him.

"How did you not see the symbol on the floor? Of all people to, I had expected _you_ to not step on it. A mage! Stepping on a trap! You even _warned_ me about Dwemer traps earlier!" I ranted.

He coughed. "I was only testing you, to see if you had your guard down." I rolled my eyes. I began to use the spell 'Healing Hands' on him.

"Uhh, what are you doing? I can do it myself."

"Like you said, we should be on high alert, ready for any attack. In order to be prepared, I think bleeding might be a little distracting."

Marcurio looked away from me, blushing, but I didn't see.

"There. Now come on, lets go find the rest of them, whether they be dead, or alive." He nodded, and we went off our merry way in silence.

•••

We soon found ourselves at a dead end. Where we had stopped, it seemed like a living space. There was an open room with a dining table, and across from it there was a stone bed.

"I have half a mind to dismantle these Dwemer machines. I'd like to see how it works."

"I've got half a mind to destroy them all." I replied. He laughed a bit at my response.

"I think we should go back, there doesn't seem to be much else here." Before he could even say anything, I ran out the room, eager to find them.

I skidded to a stop at the end of a hall, to find a Falmer at the top of a set of stairs. I frowned. I immediately ran back into the hallway, crashing into Marcurio.

"Hey! Watch it!" He yelled in a high-pitched voice.

I stopped, only to giggle.

"What's so funny?"

"You're voice went up when you said that~."

"Well, you better stop crashing into me, unless you want to attract the Falmer." I stuck my tounge out at him.

"Whatever, I'm the one paying you so stop complaining." He just shook his head, and began to follow me again.

•••

Once we made it back, I looked over the ledge, thinking.

"I wonder how deep the water is.."

Marcurio opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped.

"We've never had a proper introduction. What's your name?"

"(Y/n)." I shrugged.

"Well (y/n), I suggest we don't jump off unless you want to break your legs, which I imagine you don't want to."

"Don't worry, I won't. But still the bridge ahead seems to lead into water, so we'll have to swim."

"Fine by me."

•••

Inside the Nchuand-Zel armory, I saw Dwarven spiders and a centerion. I was trying to see if they would activate once I was up the steps, or shot at them, my eyes widened as I saw a dead body of a mage. I went up to it, and found the diary of Erj. Still crouched, I touched the Dwemer. Then, I stood up and punched it. I was a bit puzzled, but decided to not question it further.

"Hey Marcurio, we should hide behind this statue in case those machines wake up when I loot the chest."

"All right."

I looted the chest. And for a moment, nothing happened. I came out of our hiding spot, only for two Dwarven Sphere Guardians to exit from their spots. Once they were dead, I cursed.

"I like their trap. Unfortunately, it didn't work for us." We pushed on ahead, and I silently took out a Falmer, and it's Frostbite Spider.

"Ew." I was grossed out to see the spider's corpse falling down the steps.

"Weak stomach?" Marcurio teased.

"No, these things just never get old."

I opened the door ahead, and saw one of the last remaining men ahead, dead. I sighed, disappointed.

"I hope the last one is at least alive." I picked up Krag's journal.

"They had camped here, so the last one should be close." I stated, closing the book.

"I wonder what makes you say that." Marcurio said sarcastically.

"What?" I felt confused.

"Look down." I did so, and saw that there were bed rolls, covered in blood. In the corner, there was a huge pile of blood under an Imperial soldier.

"Oh." My face felt hot with embarrassment, and I took a step back. I felt my stomach sink as I felt nothing under my foot, and gasped, about to fall. Marcurio grabbed my hands, pulling me towards him, grunting.

"You should be more careful! You know, for a Nightingale, you're pretty clumsy." I immediately walked away from him.

"Sorry, I was distracted by the amount of blood everywhere."

"I thought you of all people would be used to seeing so much, Dragonborn."

"Yeah, I slay dragons and am an adventurer, but some people are murderers without remorse." I pushed passed him, my shoulder bumping into his. He stumbled back, bumping into the dead body. His face softened.

"That's a dead end."

"I know that!" I accidentally went the wrong way, and walked into a Dwarven statue instead. I walked quickly to the control room. Once inside, I jogged through the corridors, and stopped in front of a Falmer, who was a few feet away. I crouched, and took out my bow. I killed it, and another one came out. Before I could shoot at the second one again, I saw a flash of sparks kill the Falmer.

"You seem a little tense. Want to talk about it?"

"I'm fine."

Marcurio seemed worried. "You're sure? I may just be a mage, but-"

I advanced forward before he could even finish.

I killed two Falmer, and found the last man from the group. Of course, he was dead, too. I read his journal, and saw I had to re-activate Nchuand-Zel's automated defenses. Going up the steps in the room, I was immediately shot at with sparks. Thinking it was a Falmer, I shot at it. After I did, I saw it was a Dwarven spider. Marcurio finished it off, making it explode. I was a little to close.

"Ow! Hey! Watch where you're aiming at!" I complained.

"Sorry! It was going to shoot at you again!" I pouted, but my heart fluttered knowing that he was protecting me.

'Don't be so stupid, that's his job!' I said to myself. I sprinted up to the switch.

"Since now we've finished all that, may I resume with what I was saying?"

"Go ahead."

"So, what I was saying was-" I had already entered the next room, and noticed there were gaps in the bridge.

I jumped down from the bridge, and looked for anything to loot.

"Huh? (Y/n)?"

"Down here!" I shouted, realizing where I was, was when I had entered the control room.

"Where?!" He shouted back.

"Just jump off the bridge! And you won't die!"

I heard him plop on the floor. "Why do you always go away right when Im about to tell you something?" He questioned, suspicious.

"I don't know." I opened a door.

"I'm quite tired after all that killing; I just want to go back to Calcemo's Labratory."

"Then let's finish this quest as quickly as possible!" He grinned.


	2. Chapter 2

I looked up to see a Falmer fighting a Dwarven Sphere. I felt happy that I didn't have to do that. Looking down, I groaned.

"You have got, to be joking." I rubbed my eyes.

"What is it?"

"There's a Dwarven Centerion down there. I hate those things."

"How come? They take so much energy to beat?"

"Something like that." I was secretly afraid of them, usually why I always bring Cicero with me to Dwarven ruins. But I wanted to meet someone new, and I guess I at least isn't as bad as when I'm alone with snarky Marcurio around.

But to my surprise, the Dwarven Centerion quickly fell to the ground.

"Wow. I did not expect that to happen." I commented as it was killed by two Falmer.

•••

After climbing up to the Nchuand-Zel Excavation Site, I was very tired.

"You're not going to loot their bodies?"

"No, I'm too tired."

By the time we had already received payment from Calcelmo. It was already dark. We had arrived at Markarth when the sun had barely risen.

"Perhaps we celebrate with a drink? You pay, of course." He said jokingly.

"All right then." Marcurio looked at me, slightly taken aback, but went along with it anyway. We walked over to the Silver Blood Inn. Inside, a few people commented about my past actions. I felt a little embarrassed, since Marcurio knows I had escaped Cidna Mine. I walked up to Kleppr.

"What have you got for sale?"

"Drinks for the thirsty, food for the hungry."

I bought Argonian Bloodwine, two grilled chicken breasts, two pieces of bread, and a goat cheese wedge. I got cooked beef and a horker loaf too, in case what we eat really wakes up our appetite. I decided to rent a room too.

"Let me show you to your room." I followed Kleppr, who lead me to a room.

"Let me know if there's anything else you need." He walked away.

Soon, Marcurio was at the doorway. "So, what now?" He leaned against the door frame.

"Now, we eat and drink until we are satisfied. I got us some food and Argonian Bloodwine, if you like."

"Sounds like we're bound to have a time." He smiled.

•••

Soon, we were both beyond drunk, stuttering, and barely able to walk.

"Hayyyyy, today was really * **hiccup*** great!" I slurred, putting an arm around Marcurio's shoulders.

"You don't ***burp*** say!" He smiled.

I raised my bottle of Nord Mead, leaning against Marcurio.

Kleppr noticed our loud voices. He walked over to us and began to usher us to the room I rented.

"Now now, I think it's best if you two sleep." He said.

"Nonsense! I have spent days awake, with no effect. I am _the_ **Dragon** -"

The door was slammed shut as I finished my sentence.

"-born." I looked at the door, and saw it was closed. I furrowed my eyebrows. I walked up to the door, trying to open it, but I couldn't.

"Heyyy, where's the ***hiccup"** handle?"

"Don't worry, I should be able to fix it!" Marcurio yelled. He shot flames at it. I tried to open it again, but my hands were burned as I touched the hot metal. I immediately drew back my hands, crying out in pain. I sat on the bed holding my hands against my stomach.

"(Y/n), are you all right? Let me see your hands." He sat across from me.

I shook my head, and let him see the situation. For some reason, I still had my hood on, and I was very thankful that Marcurio couldn't see my watery eyes. I may be Dovakiin, but I wasn't very tolerant to pain.

Then, all of a sudden, the pain was magically gone. I looked at my hands, and saw Marcurio's were above mine, a shining light between our hands. I also felt a little sober, and I guess he did too, after what he did.

"There." He said softly, as the light dimmed. He looked up at me, and I knew he could see the light reflecting off my eyes. He slowly reached for my hood, and removed it completely. He then just stared at my face.

"I'm sorry, beautiful..." He whispered solemnly. His hand hands had ended up with mine, and he quickly kissed away the tears. He seemed hesitant for a moment, then he kissed me on the lips. I kissed back, letting him know I returned the feeling. He smiled against my mouth, causing me to smile too. I felt so weary after everything that had happened, that I couldn't help but lean against him. I soon fell asleep..

3rd P.O.V.

Marcurio chuckled, seeing as the Dragonborn has worn their self out. He picked up their legs, putting them onto the bed. He laid their head on the pillow, and used whatever pelts they had in their bags, and in the room, to put under the (y/n) to make them as comfortable as possible. Once he was done, he himself laid on the stone bed, wrapping his arms protectively around them. He too, soon fell asleep, dreaming about teasing his Dragonborn.

A/N:

God damn I feel like that was a complete train wreck since I originally wrote it around 4am while playing the quest with Marcurio for the first time ever, so apologies if he seems extremely out of character. Plus, I only made a few tweaks here and there.


End file.
